Steven Spielberg Suggests Indiana Jones Could Eventually Be Played By a Woman

It has recently dawned on Hollywood that, yes, women can play action-heavy leading roles often given to men. Atomic Blonde and Proud Mary are just some of the recent few that put female characters in violent, intensive roles, and while it’s exciting to see women take the action spotlight, we could certainly use some more. We’ve all dreamed about how awesome an Emily Blunt James Bond would be, and Idris Elba is even into the idea of a female 007, but what about a female Indiana Jones?

It could actually happen, at least according to Steven Spielberg. The director spoke with The Sun, noting that the upcoming Indiana Jones 5 will likely be Harrison Ford’s final outing in the role. “This will be Harrison Ford’s last Indiana Jones movie, I am pretty sure, but it will certainly continue after that,” he told the paper of the franchise. But considering that, he also added that it’s time the character “took a different form.” Spielberg then suggested that a female Indy wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities in the future. From The Sun:

Spielberg nodded when asked if this new-look Jones could be female, and added: “We’d have to change the name from Jones to Joan. And there would be nothing wrong with that.”

It sounds like Spielberg is joking by suggesting the whole “Joan” name change – Jones is a surname anyway, and why can’t Indiana be a gender-neutral name, or even shortened to India as a nickname? But it seems like he’s down with the gender-swap idea, even if it’ll throw the film bro trolls into a tizzy on the internet (let us not remember the Ghostbusters reboot reactions please). A couple years back, Disney chief Bob Iger spoke about the studio’s plans for Indy beyond the fifth film, suggesting the franchise could take the Legacyquel route, passing the torch to a new, younger generation. That would be the perfect opportunity to introduce a female hero to the mix.